Using well-established indicators of high school dropout risk in the areas of academic performance, attendance, and discipline, this report examines the extent to which African American male students in elementary, middle, and high school in OUSD are on course for graduating, at risk of falling off course for graduating, and off course for graduating.

Major Findings:

Among African American male students in grades K-12, 45% were on course, 21% were at risk of being off course and 34% were off course in 2010-11.

By contrast, among OUSD students overall, 63% were on course, 18% were at risk of being off course and 20% were off course.

One-third to nearly one-half of African American male students in OUSD, depending on school level, were on course.

Chronic absence in elementary school drove many African American boys off course.

More than half of African American boys in middle school were at risk of dropping out of high school, with suspension being a factor for 73% of those off course.

Almost one in five off-course African American male students was held back.

Neighborhood poverty and violence were significantly related to whether youth were on-course with their education.

Key Recommendations:

Develop and implement an early warning and intervention system to identify and support African American males and other students who are off course or at risk of falling off course.

Reduce the use of suspensions for non-violent, non-serious discipline issues.

Identify and immediately implement strategies to improve attendance among African American boys.

Ensure that school-based health centers reach African American boys.

Engage more African American boys in afterschool programs.

Ensure that implementation of OUSD’s Strategic Plan results in high-quality, effective instruction for African American boys.

Create healthy school climates for African American males.

Prioritize improving the middle school experiences of African American boys.Create opportunities to re-engage African American male students in high school.

Addendum: As of May 25th 10:00am this report document has been updated. We discovered a calculation error on page 25- the original statistics in the first paragraph and the Figure 12 were almost half their correct values concerning the rates of asthma. The new report document also reflects the correct report title in it's name: AAMAI_OnCourseToGraduate. Please delete any older versions i nuse with the old name AAMAI_SegmentationReport.